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Facebook is planning to promote its live video service during the RNC and DNC | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Facebook plans live video push during conventions

By HADAS GOLD

07/13/2016 10:48 AM EDT

In what's expected to be two of the most fascinating political conventions in recent history, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton set to accept their respective nominations, Facebook is planning to take full advantage of the spectacle to place a focus on their new hot product: Facebook Live.

The streaming service has made headlines in recent weeks, as everyone from members of Congress to witnesses in police shootings have used the service to give an unfiltered, on-the-ground view of what they're experiencing.

"This is the most engaged we've been at the convention and its highly correlated to the fact we have a lot of tools to offer. We've come a long way from 2012 -- we didn't even have video back then, it's hard to believe. And now we've taken it to the next level with Live," said Crystal Patterson, Facebook's head of government and politics outreach. "Our presence at the convention is different because our role generally in the conversation around elections is different."

In both Cleveland and Philadelphia, Facebook is hoping delegates, politicians and members of the media will turn on their smartphone cameras and broadcast live as much as possible. While Facebook's social competitor Twitter has teamed with CBS News to livestream the entire event, outlets like C-SPAN will use Facebook live to broadcast the evening's proceedings, much as it did during the House Democrats' gun control sit-in.

In addition to C-SPAN, Facebook is partnering with 21 media organizations, including CNN, Yahoo!, Fox News, The New York Times and local media in both cities to use the "Facebook Lounge" which will act as a studio for live broadcasts. Though Facebook is reportedly paying around $50 million to various publishers and celebrities to use their live service, none of the media partners at the conventions are being specifically paid to use the Facebook Lounge or Facebook Live.

And even at the lounges, Patterson said they wouldn't be providing much support other than encouragement.

"We make the tools pretty straightforward for people to use them on their own," Patterson said. "We shouldn't need a whole sort of hand in hand engagement to get good content."

Other Facebook goodies for convention attendees will include an Instagram portrait studio, a mini Oval Office and interactive touch screens that will show the elections-related conversation on Facebook.

While Facebook Live has been in the news recently for the sit-in by Democratic members of Congress and its use in the aftermath of the Philando Castile shooting, the powerful social media site was also in the news for political reasons. Facebook came under scrutiny in May after anonymous former employees claimed that conservative viewpoints and stories were suppressed from the sites "trending topics" section. After a meeting with conservative voices and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Patterson said they weren't planning to have any sort of specific outreach to conservatives during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

"I think we put that to bed. We looked into it and there was no evidence of the allegations," Patterson said. "We're just excited to be at the conventions and continue robust conversations."